Critical infrastructure, including power grids, water stations, telephone lines, and sewage networks, sustained extensive damage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe visual evidence indicates that the destruction is spread across different quarters of the city\u2019s urban fabric. The ongoing campaign mirrors the destructive patterns of the 2006 war, characterised by the flattening of entire neighbourhoods, significant civilian casualties and mass displacement.<\/p>\n
Joanne Bajjaly, an archaeologist specialising in the protection of cultural property during armed conflicts, told Al Jazeera that the current scale of devastation goes far beyond previous conflicts.<\/p>\n
Unlike the wars of 1982 and 2006, she noted, the ongoing Israeli campaign involves systematic bulldozing of historical buildings, landmarks and even graves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael is carrying out an erasure of a people and their memory from the earth,\u201d she said, adding that Israel is treating southern Lebanon as \u201can empty, ahistorical land\u201d.<\/p>\n
Threat to World Heritage Sites<\/p>\n
The damage has spilled over into Tyre\u2019s invaluable historical quarters. Satellite data shows that air raids hit structures just metres away from the Tyre archaeological site, a location inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1984.<\/p>\n
The targeted perimeter falls within a zone granted \u201cenhanced protection\u201d in November 2024 under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.<\/p>\n
Bajjaly, who runs NGO BILADI, noted that while the 1954 convention theoretically allows Lebanon to prosecute Israel at the International Court of Justice, Israel is actively \u201ctrying to prove that it is above all international legislation and agreements\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just a military war, it is a clear cultural war,\u201d she explained, describing the widespread targeting of educational institutions, refugee camps, religious sites, and historical markets.<\/p>\n
She characterised the systematic destruction as an attempt to \u201cannihilate the culture of the other by destroying all components of their life\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lebanon\u2019s Ministry of Culture issued an urgent statement condemning the attacks, noting that the ancient city preserves nearly 5,000 years of human history. It emphasised that safeguarding this cultural landmark is a collective global obligation mandated by international law, rather than the responsibility of Lebanon alone.<\/p>\n
In addition to historical sites, educational institutions have been directly affected. The National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes struck the immediate vicinity of the Islamic University of Lebanon in Tyre, causing structural damage and destroying civilian vehicles parked nearby.<\/p>\n
Bajjaly emphasised that Tyre is the foundational archaeological city of southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny damage to the history of this city distorts its past and strips locals of a part of their identity,\u201d she told Al Jazeera, adding that the city boasts Roman monuments like the Hippodrome, alongside an intertwined history of Phoenician and Hellenistic eras.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe destruction hits both the ancient sites and the historical residential neighbourhoods that have thrived since the 17th century.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palestinian camps under fire<\/p>\n
The bombardment has also hit the region\u2019s vulnerable refugee populations, specifically targeting the el-Buss camp for Palestinian refugees. Satellite images confirmed the destruction of several buildings inside the officially recognised UNRWA camp, alongside severe structural damage to a local public high school.<\/p>\n
The escalation has triggered a secondary humanitarian crisis for Palestinians in Lebanon, who number approximately 246,000 across 12 official camps. The southern districts of Tyre and Sidon have borne the brunt of direct military operations and forced displacement orders issued south of the Zahrani River.<\/p>\n
The three official camps in the Tyre district \u2013 Rashidieh, el-Buss and Burj Shemali \u2013 house a combined population of 28,000 refugees.<\/p>\n
UNRWA officials have confirmed to Al Jazeera that one-third of the 28,000 residents have already fled the three Tyre camps due to the bombardment.<\/p>\n
A region in flight<\/p>\n
The exodus from Tyre has severely strained the humanitarian infrastructure across Lebanon. Out of Tyre\u2019s permanent population of 60,000, including some 10,000 from the densely packed historical Old City, an estimated 8 percent, fled within a 48-hour window following the latest military warnings.<\/p>\n
Before the current wave of alerts, Tyre hosted 19,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from surrounding border villages, with 6,000 accommodated across 19 local shelters. Now, both the original residents and those previously displaced are fleeing further north:<\/p>\n
\n- Sidon and its camps:<\/strong> Ein el-Hilweh and Mieh Mieh camps in Sidon have become primary destinations, severely overstretching already scarce food, water, and medical resources.<\/li>\n
- Beirut and the suburbs:<\/strong> Displaced families are arriving in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, including Iqlim al-Kharroub and the Chouf. However, those entering Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, such as the Burj al-Barajneh and Shatila camps, face the ongoing threat of secondary air raids.<\/li>\n
- The far north:<\/strong> Hundreds of families are travelling as far as Tripoli and Akkar, seeking refuge in the Nahr al-Bared and Beddawi camps, which are currently viewed as safer havens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Additional reporting by Mohammad Mansour<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newly evaluated satellite images show widespread destruction across the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre, following a relentless…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":858722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[118,3497,5173,99,18299,13192,3097,50,3096,272944],"class_list":["post-858721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-human-rights","tag-humanitarian-crises","tag-infrastructure","tag-israel","tag-israel-attacks-lebanon","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-refugees","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116728785472549220","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}